Luck vs Fate

by Unblossomed

Some pirate crews are heroes, travelling the world saving lives. Some crews are monsters, killing and stealing from everyone. Some are adventurers. And there are some that somehow manage to be all three. Inspired by the One Piece based D&D series ran by Daniel Rustage, what if the Devil's Luck Pirates took to the grand line in place of the Straw Hat Pirates? (Rated M for safety)

Obligatory disclaimer here, I do not own One Piece. One Piece is owned by Eichiro Oda and associated companies, and the Devil's Luck crew and associated properties are owned by I guess Daniel Rustage and the rest of the players of the DnD campaign, if you can say that.

---

Hello and welcome to my new story. Now before it begins, I just want to say a few things. I am a big fan of the Devil's Luck pirates, and William is unironically one of my favorite characters in fiction at this point. I was originally thinking of doing a retelling of the DnD series in story format like this, but then I decided that this idea might be a bit more interesting. Like the summary says, the basic idea is going to be that I'll be replacing the Straw Hat crew with the Devil's Luck crew, but I wont be just brute force putting each individual crew member in the same place that their counterpart would be. Instead, I'm going to be restructuring the story so that the story will work with the Devil's Luck crew. That means that while the basic premise of each arc will remain the same, the way it will be approached will be distinctly Devil's Luck. This also means that some of the Straw Hats will have a role in the story to some degree. With all that said, let us begin.

---

In this world, this world of vast oceans surrounding disconnected islands, mostly associating only through merchants and mail deliveries, the most powerful force to change the world is not willpower or military power or even intelligence, but curiosity. The desire to go out and seek out what is on the edge of each and every map, and prove that the legends are real. The desire to learn more about an island than anyone has before, the desire to discover even without the promise of knowledge, that is what can turn things on their heads. It does not require one to be strong, or smart, or even determined, but it does require the right words. The words that can convince a person to share some information that would fulfil your curiosity, or the words that can convince them to help join them in their desire to sate this curiosity. Regardless of method or motive, curiosity can lead to many a great discovery. From an island that is not far from your home, to world shaking revelations, all that is required to learn of them is enough curiosity to lead you to them, and a lack of reason or self control that would prevent you from following it.

---

*KRATHOOOM!*

Coby's heart skipped a beat at the loud crack of thunder, the vibrations from it shaking the plate in his hands even more than his own frayed nerves and causing the whole kitchen to rattle almost as much as it did when they got hit by a cannonball.

Coby, was, terrified. Well, he was always terrified while on Alvida's crew, but he was more so than usual today. They'd been sailing pretty close to the calm belt these past few weeks, resulting in them seeing a lot more sea kings than normal. They hadn't actually had to deal with one yet, but with how many they were seeing, Coby knew it was only a matter of time.

Still, the sea kings were actually the least of his concern at the moment. The big thing on his mind was the huge storm that they'd dealt with the night before, and was still within view as it traveled further north. Call him crazy, call him superstitious, but when a storm strong enough to force them to completely beach the ship on a nearby island comes through, and from the direction of the CALM BELT no less, Coby couldn't help but be worried about what might happen.

Still, he didn't let his heightened terror slow his work, he didn't want to die after all. He diligently organized and cleaned the kitchen as he was told, thanking what little luck he had that Captain Alvida was exploring the island they'd ended up on instead of coming there to demand another meal. As he continued, finally getting to the last of the dishes, there was a loud banging at the kitchen door and a voice came through.

"Oi! Coby! You in here brat?!" One of Coby's 'crewmates' called out from the entrance to the kitchen.

"Y-yes sir! Is there something you need?" Coby replied as he ran over and opened the door for them, only to have a heavy barrel shoved into his arms.

"One of the guys found one of our supply barrels that fell during the storm floating out in the sea. Get this thing put away."

"Um…" Coby began to reply, but the man just walked straight back out without even giving him a chance.

"We didn't loose any supply barrels." Coby said to himself before letting out a defeated sigh.

With no other choice, Coby hauled the barrel over to the rest of the supplies before going back to work, putting it underneath a couple of other things seeing as the barrel was actually pretty sturdy. He then went back to cleaning, praying that he could get a break in before Alvida or anyone else decided they felt like making him do something else.

---

A few hours went past and supper came and went, finding Coby back in the kitchen alone to clean the dishes once again. The lamps were dim as they were running low on oil, so he only had enough light to properly see his sink and nothing more. The darkness rubbing at his already frayed nerves even more than they already were though, so he was very glad the storm had long since subsided.

As he scrubbed away at the numerous dirty plates, a small human groaning noise echoed through the kitchen accompanied by sound of shuffling. Coby instantly froze when he heard this, before desperately trying to find where the noise was coming from.

"H-h-hello? I-is someone there?" Coby asked nervously into the air.

Coby didn't get a proper response, but instead he heard the groaning and shuffling growing louder. Slowly, Coby managed to pinpoint where the sounds were coming from, finding they were coming from the mysterious barrel that he'd been given earlier in the day. Terrified, Coby grabbed the nearest weapon, a large metal spoon, and stared wide eyed and terrified at the barrel. The groaning began to fade, but the shuffling became even louder and seemingly more controlled, before suddenly-

*THUD*

"GAH! My head!" A very human and living sounding voice cried out in pain from the barrel.

"O-oh! Sorry, let me open that for you!" Coby said as he quickly removed everything he'd stacked on the barrel.

Opening the barrel, Coby finally got to see what, AKA who, was in this mysterious barrel. Sitting awkwardly in the barrel was a relatively thin man with a brown goatee and mid length brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. He was wearing a sea blue dress shirt and a brown pinstripe vest along with some nice black pants and a bicorne hat, looking very sharply dressed despite the rough shape his clothes were in.

"Thanks for the hand kid." The man said as he got out of the barrel. "But why was there stuff on top of the barrel in the first place?"

"S-sorry about that, one of my crewmates gave me your barrel and told me to store it." Coby replied apologetically.

"And you didn't think to check what was in the barrel before you shoved it away?" The man asked with a raised eyebrow as he did a few stretches.

"W-well, barrels normally don't have people in them. By the way, why were you in there?" Coby asked.

"Eh, long story short my ship got caught up in a massive storm that pretty much destroyed it." The man replied with a shrug. "I was only able to find this barrel for myself once I'd helped the rest of my crew, and I must have gotten a concussion or something from being in there because my head is killing me. Side note, do you have anything to eat?"

Without waiting for a response, the man began raiding the kitchen, quickly finding some jerky and a bag of walnuts.

"W-Wait! You cant eat that!" Coby said in a panic as he tried and failed to grab the food from the man.

"Why not? This is a kitchen isn't it?" The man asked through a mouthful of food. "Is this place a restaurant or something?"

"No, it's a pirate crew! You're on the ship of Captain Alvida!"

"Never heard of her." The man said, still eating.

"Wha? Alvida's one of the most fearsome pirates in the East Blue!" Coby exclaimed. "She's got a bounty of 5,000,000 Beri!"

"So she's from the east? Explains why I never heard of her. What are you guys doing down here in the south?" The man then asked.

"What? We're not in the south, we're in the east still."

"Seriously, you sure?" William asked with a disbelieving look, still eating. "Because last I checked, I was in the South Blue."

"I'm sure." Coby said with a nod. "We're on Emanon island, an island in the East that's near the calm belt."

The man's eyes went wide at this, the sudden realization causing him to stop eating and lean heavily against a counter.

"Huh… First of all, shit. That storm managed to throw me all the way across the Grand Line? That was even more insane than I thought. I'm a LOT more worried about what happened to my crew now. Secondly, there's an island named after me in the East Blue?"

"W-what do you mean?" Coby asked.

The man then let out a small chuckle as he stood up and gave an elegant bow.

"My name is William Emanon my young friend, at your service."

"Oh!" Coby exclaimed as his eyes lit up in understanding. "That's what you mean. Bit of a funny coincidence. Uh, my name's Coby by the way."

"Ah, Coby, a simple but strong name. Nice to meet you."

"L-likewise." Coby replied awkwardly. "A-anyways, you need to get out of here. If Captain Alvida catches you, you're done for."

"True, I really do need to head out and find my crew. Did you see anyone in a row boat nearby, or see anyone else floating around nearby?" Asked William as he began to walk out the door, only for Coby to grab his arm and stop him.

"No, we didn't, but you can't just leave like that!" Coby hissed. "If Lady Alvida sees someone who isn't part of her crew just walking around, she'll kill you!"

Hearing this, William gave Coby another raised eyebrow.

"Uh huh, and I'm guessing the same goes if anyone catches me trying to steal a boat?" William then asked, causing Coby to frown.

"C-crap, you're right. I'm so sorry, you're caught in the same situation I was. You're stuck with this crew with no way to leave, you're probably going to get taken advantage of and forced to do all sorts of horrible things like I was, ruining your life and having to beg on hands and knees not to get killed." Coby said, sounding equal parts angry and defeated.

"Hold on, you don't want to be part of this crew?" William asked curiously.

"Of course not, it's a pirate crew. The only people who willingly become pirates are disgusting filth who care only for their own egos." Coby said spitefully. "I only joined this crew by accident. I was wanting to go fishing, but I accidently got on this pirate ship instead of my fishing boat, so they forced me to join them or get killed."

"You… mistook a pirate ship for your fishing boat?" William said in a disbelieving tone. "My estimation of your intelligence has just dropped a few points."

"Heh heh, that's fair." Coby said sheepishly.

William then looked at Coby for a few moments, seeing him looking very clearly depressed, before letting out a sigh. He then perked himself up and placed a hand on Coby's shoulder.

"Well, there's nothing else for it." William then said proudly. "Worry not my new young friend of questionable intelligence, for now you have the great William Emanon on your side. There is not a woman in this world that can resist my charms. I'll be able convince this Lady Alvida to happily give the two of us a boat to leave on with little more than a kiss on the cheek as payment."

"Wha-"

"Come Coby, destiny and freedom await!" William declared as he confidently walked out of the kitchen, Coby dragged along in tow.

---

Having no other choice, Coby reluctantly led William over to where the rest of the crew had set up camp on the island while desperately, and futilely, trying to convince him to change his mind. When they got close enough to the crew to see them though, William got his first look at Alvida and cautiously came to a stop.

"I'm, hoping I'm wrong about this, but am I right to assume that the fat woman with the spiked club is Alvida?" William asked quietly, and Coby nodded.

"Y-yeah, that's the captain, Iron Mace Alvida. Now do you understand just how bad of an idea it is to try and talk to her?" Coby asked William, still hoping he'd change his mind. William roughly swallowed before answering Coby this time.

"Well, this will certainly be more of a challenge than I anticipated, but there is no doubt in my mind that we will be able to leave without injury my friend." William said somewhat shakily. "Come, let us present our case!"

Then, with a steadying breath, William confidently marched towards the rest of the crew, Coby still nervously following behind.

"Greetings, if I am not mistaken, you are the captain of this fine crew are you not?" William loudly called out, drawing the attention of Alvida and everyone else.

"Huh? Who're you supposed to be?" Alvida asked. "And what the hell are you doing here?"

"Apologies for the interruption, my name is William Emanon." William said with a deep bow. "My ship was destroyed in the recent storm and I was forced to hide myself in a barrel in order to survive. Luckily for me, your brave crew fetched my barrel from the sea and brought me into your care. My life has been saved by the actions of your crew, and I can not express how grateful I am my dear lady."

William remained in his position, allowing Alvida and her crew to get a good look at him. As they took in his visage, evil smirks began to grow on the faces of Alvida and her crew, and Coby immediately began fearing for his and William's life even more than before.

"Well, you must have the luck of the devil to survive that in a barrel." Alvida said. "Still, it was hard for my men to go out and grab your barrel to bring you back safely, and we're not the type to do anything for free. You're going to have to pay us back somehow."

"But of course." William replied as he straightened back up. "I wouldn't dare let my saviors go un-rewarded. Just name your price and… Wait, that face… you wouldn't happen to be the great pirate queen, Iron Mace Alvida would you?"

"Well, it's about time someone actually recognized they were in the presence of pirate royalty." Alvida said with a self-satisfied smirk. "I am Iron Mace Alvida! The strongest and most beautiful woman in the world! Right men!?"

"Yes Captain Alvida!" The crew cheered. Alvida's eyes then narrowed at William, and her smirk grew more blatantly evil.

"So, what's that mean to you?" She asked.

"Why, it means everything to me!" William declared joyfully. "I am a simple merchant from the South Blue, but when I heard of you through the newspapers, and saw your amazingly beautiful face on your wanted poster, I knew I just had to come meet you in person. I must say, as stunning as your picture is, it cant even hold a candle to the real thing."

"Oh, really?" Alvida said in surprise, a small blush now adorning her face as she was clearly caught off guard. "You came all this way just to see how beautiful I am?"

"Would a man travel across a thousand miles of desert just to quench his thirst? Of course I came to see you, I would have to be utterly mad not too." William replied. "And I am utterly in awe of the view I now bear witness to. Your arms and legs, so strong and powerful, appearing as though they may be capable of crushing mountains with ease. Your face, so soft and inviting, like a glorious summer day, yet strong and sharp like the deadliest blade. And your figure, so amazingly hypnotizing that even Boa Hancock herself you swoon at a mere glimpse of you."

"O-oh my!" Alvida tittered, now blushing bright red and wearing a monstrously wide smile. "I've never heard someone describe me so accurately before."

Coby could barely believe what he was seeing and hearing. William seemed to be pulling it off. Iron Mace Alvida, the terrifying woman that had basically enslaved him and made his life a living hell, was now reduced to a blushing and bashful young girl, all with just a few words from this strange man. Suddenly, despite everything else, Coby now had hope that he might actually manage to get away thanks to William.

"That you've never heard such compliments is a crime against the very soul of this world Alvida." William said in a sad voice. "In truth, your beauty is so great that I barely feel as though I deserve to bear witness to it. In fact, the only thing taking away from your beauty is those simple rags you are wearing. A woman such as yourself deserves to wear something much better than that."

"Really?"

"Really and truly. In fact, why don't I help fix that." William said with a smile. "I have some contacts with some high-quality tailors here in the east. While they might not quite be able to craft anything that quite befits a woman such as you, they can surely design you a wardrobe that is far better than what you currently wear."

"You're right Willam, these clothes aren't good enough for me." Alvida said as she gave her clothes a disgusted look. "PEPPOKO! Go to my room and burn all my clothes, I don't want to even see those disgusting things anymore!"

"B-but Lady Alvida." He replied. "If I do that then you won't have anything to wear!"

"Then I'll go around naked for a while, it'll be a treat for all of you while William go gets me a new wardrobe befitting of me. NOW GET TO IT!"

Everyone besides Alvida turned a bit green at the idea of her walking around naked, even William, but no one said anything as Peppoko quickly rushed off to do as he was told. Alvida then turned back to William.

"Well, what are you waiting for, go get me my new clothes!" She demanded.

"Apologizes my fair lady, but seeing as the vessel I arrived in was, well, a barrel, I am going to unfortunately ask you for a small touch of generosity in allowing me to borrow a boat so I may go fetch them. As well as a few crewmembers to assist me in my travels." William said with a regretful voice and a small bow.

"Ah, of course, take whoever you'd like." Alvida said.

"In that case, my first pick will be my dear friend Coby here, he is the one that ensured I would be well enough to see you after all." William said as he grabbed the pink haired boy. He then pointed to a random pair of pirates. "As for the others, how's about you two."

The two nodded, eager to not be near Alvida during her stint being naked, and quickly joined William and Coby. The group then turned to leave, only for Alvida to speak up.

"Actually William, before you leave, why don't I give you a reward ahead of time for your clothes."

"Oh, I couldn't possibly-" William began, only for Alvida to grab him by the arm and pull him close.

"Aw don't be like that. Let me give you a kiss from the most beautiful woman in the world."

"I couldn't, I am not worthy of such a gift." William said, cracks in his pleasant mask suddenly appearing as he seemingly struggled to get away from Alvida.

"I don't care, you're getting a kiss from me before you go whether you deserve it or not. Now pucker up!" Alvida said before she began leaning in for the kiss.

The rest of the crew could only look on in disgusted sympathy as William went lax in Alvida's grip, a look of defeat on his face.

"I see. Then I suppose there's nothing else for it." William said sadly, before abruptly pulling himself from Alvida's grip, the ease of which he did catching her by surprise.

"Coby!" William began. "One of the most important things about being a man is deciding what you will not do! Not what you can't, but what you refuse to. For all my flowery words, I refuse to willingly touch this disgusting sentient tub of lard!"

"Wha-"

Before anyone else could react, William quickly slid over to the two pirates that joined him beside Coby and knocked them out, snatching a sword and pistol form them as he did.

"Hmm, kind low quality even for a couple of grunts, but I guess it will have to do." William said before turning to the rest of the crew.

"Allow me to properly introduce myself. My name is William Emanon, captain of an admittedly yet unnamed pirate crew from the South Blue. Today is a day of joy though, for you will have the honor of being the first rival pirate crew I take down in the East Blue!"

William's declaration was met with dead silence. Coby's previous hope had been utterly crushed, and he accepted that William was going to die. He could only hope that Alvida wouldn't turn her anger towards him when she was done with William.

The majority of the crew was staring at William dumbfounded, unable to process just how dumb what he just did was. One smart crew member wisely ran to the ship to try and stop Peppoko from burning Alvida's clothes. Alvida though, Alvida's face was slowly morphing into rage, looking more livid than the rest of the crew had ever seen her as she processed William's words. With a wordless scream of rage, Alvida charged forwards and swung her club down as hard as she could at William's head, and Coby braced himself for the splash.

*THUD*

"Ha ha, missed me."

Realizing he wasn't being sprayed in blood and gore, Coby looked up to see that William had jumped away from Alvida and was now giving her a mocking smile. Coby and the entire rest of the crew was looking at him in shock, having fully expected him to die instantly, so they didn't know how to react now that he wasn't. Alvida on the other hand knew exactly how to react.

"MEN!" She yelled. "KILL THIS LYING BASTARD!"

With a roar that was far more awkward than usual, Alvida's men jumped in to do just that, but William remained unperturbed. He smoothly weaved through the sword slashes and gunshots, replying with many of his own. He parried a blade and shot the holder in the stomach, bashed away a couple people with the flat of his blade, and even threw in a couple of kicks that sent people flying. Alvida herself came in to try and kill him, swinging her mace regardless of how many of her own men were in-between it and William, but each swing was dodged and given a mocking chuckle in response.

Before long all of Alvida's crew besides Coby and Alvida herself were on the ground either dead or unconscious, leaving the two pirate captains facing each other one on one.

"Who are you!? Some kind of bounty hunter!?" Alvida screamed at him, but William just rolled his eyes.

"No, I told you, I'm a pirate. Sure, I've only been one for about a month now, and at the moment I've lost my crew, but I am a pirate."

"And I was such a big threat to you that you decided to come and ambush me and my crew?!" Alvida yelled.

"Naw, you're not worth hunting down." William said with a shrug. "As you said, I guess I've just got the devil's luck."

Hearing this, Alvida screamed in rage once more as she charged William, again swinging her club for his head. Like last time, William easily dodged the swing, but this time he followed it up with a kick to Alvida's stomach. Alvida groaned in pain, seemingly doubling over as best she could with her blob shaped body, while also leaving herself open. William took advantage of this by shooting her in the wrist.

"AHHH!" Alvida screamed, dropping her club to grip the wound.

"Huh, this thing has a bit more weight to it than I thought." William said, and Alvida looked over to see him holding her club.

"DAMN YOU WILLIAM, YOU BASTARD! I DON'T KNOW WHAT MAGIC YOU'RE USING TO DO THIS, BUT I'LL GET YOU BACK FOR THIS YOU DEVIL!"

"Not magic, just skill. Now just relax and enjoy your comeuppance." William said as he reeled back with the club like it was a bat.

"IRON ACE!"

William swung the club as hard as he could into Alvida, her fat body rippling with the force of the hit before she was sent flying across the island and out of view. When Alvida was no longer in sight, William calmly grabbed some rope which he used to secure the mace to his back, and turned back to his pink haired companion.

"Well, that wasn't exactly what I had planned, but it worked and we came both came out of this without a scratch like I said. Come on Coby, lets go grab a ship."

---

A few minutes later, William and Coby were rowing away from the island, Alvida's ship burning behind them (The burning of Alvida's clothes clearly went out of control). As they sailed away, William was inspecting the iron club he'd 'acquired' while Coby rowed the boat with a frustrated look.

"So, I guess you're my new captain now?" Coby asked with spite.

"I mean, if you want me to be." William said with a shrug. "Do you want to join my crew?"

"No, I don't, but it's not like I'd expect you to care about what I want."

Hearing the blatant hostility in Coby's voice, William looked up from his prise to give him a concerned look.

"Coby, is something wrong?"

"Is something wrong? IS SOMETHING WRONG?! EVERYTHING'S WRONG!" Coby screamed as he abruptly stood up. "Two years ago, I got on a pirate ship by mistake and had my life RUINED! I had to serve a fat, disgusting, cruel woman, and do whatever she said no matter how much I hated it, because if I didn't then she would kill me! I've had to do stuff I could never have dreamed of doing, things that haunt my nightmares every night now, all because of a stupid mistake! Then, right when I meet someone who maybe, just maybe, could actually save me, he turns out to be a pirate as well! Yeah, sure he got me free from Alvida, but at least with Alvida I knew how to survive day to day and do what she wanted. Now I'm being forced along with a different pyscho pirate, and it's just me and him so there's no one else to distract him from me and…"

Coby trailed off, suddenly realizing just what he was saying and who he was saying it in front of as he saw the blank look William was giving him.

"I-I-I'm s-sorry sir, I shouldn't hav-"

"Coby, do you know the two requirements a person needs to fill to be called a pirate?" William suddenly asked.

"N-no sir."

William nodded.

"One: they need to travel from island to island. They can have an island they use as their home base, but in order to be a pirate, a person or their crew needs to be on the sea traveling more often than not. Two: the person needs to be someone the world government doesn't like."

…

"That's… all?" Coby asked after a moment's pause.

"Yup." William replied with a shrug. "You don't need a pirate flag, you don't need a crew, you don't need to pillage and plunder or search for treasure, you don't even need to be a criminal if you look at it a certain way. You could literally be a doctor traveling from island to island curing people for free, at the end of the day, it doesn't matter. The moment the world government decides they don't like you, you become a pirate."

"B-but, pirates are scum!" Coby exclaimed. "There's no such thing as a, a, a doctor pirate, or something like that."

"That's what the World Government says, sure." William said with a pointed look. "But when they don't like someone for whatever reason, they try to make everyone else hate them too. If they want people to hate someone, they aren't going to tell the truth about them, they're going to make them out to be a monster no matter what kind of person they are. Sure, some people go out and choose to be pirates, some even choose to be exactly the kind of scum the World Government claims they all are, but some people don't have a choice."

Coby looked at William in shock. He didn't want to believe what William was saying, especially seeing as he'd just seen the man spin a tale that had him leading Alvida by the nose, but for some reason he couldn't stop himself. What William was saying just made sense, and he was speaking bluntly and casually, not in that exaggeratedly fancy tone he used when spinning the tale to Alvida.

"T-then, what kind of pirate are you?" Coby asked.

"Honestly, I don't know yet." William replied. "But some of my crew seems to like the idea of going around and helping people, and I know I personally am more in it for the adventure, so I'd say we're more leaning towards the idea of Peace Mains."

"Peace Mains?" Coby asked, now more confused.

"It's a pretty old fashioned term. Basically, it refers to pirates that go out to sea for the sake of adventure, regardless of the risk that being labelled a criminal by the World Government brings. Morganeers are the ones that go out to do all the pillaging, stealing, raping, and all that sort of bad stuff. According to the guy that raised me, the world government forced people to stop using them to prevent any sort of sympathy towards anyone they label a pirate, thus my earlier statement."

"Huh, that's interesting." Coby remarked, having not expected the lesson. "T-then, um, if you don't mind me asking, why did you become a pirate?"

"Eh, needed a career change."

…

"WHAT!?" Coby exclaimed. "You chose to become a criminal because you wanted a new job!?"

William let out a chuckle at that.

"Kid, I was already a criminal before I became a pirate. Why do you think I was so good at leading that tub of lard on earlier? I grew up learning how to steal and scam people, and I can talk my way out of just about anything." He said somewhat proudly before letting out an exhausted sigh.

"But, I was getting tired of all that. Also I kept getting beaten up by the pirate crews that would come through my island. Being a solo act is tough. So, I decided to say fuck it and start my own crew."

Seeing the look of shock on Coby's face, William let out another chuckle.

"What? Did you expect me to have some sad backstory where I decided to become a pirate to do good, that becoming a Peace Main is my actual goal? Sorry to say, that's not me, that's my crewmate Duros. Me, I'm just a guy looking to explore the world and have some fun."

As William said this, Coby looked at the man in a new light. This man seemed a touch eccentric, but he seemed, for lack of a better word, real. He didn't have any lofty ambitions, didn't have the monstrous cruelty Alvida and other pirates ('Morganeers') he'd met had, but he also wasn't a shining hero like Sora from the comics. He was just a guy who was living his life, and yet Coby found himself easily taken in by him.

"What about you Coby?" William said, interrupting his thoughts. "What do you want to do?"

"Oh, I… you wouldn't like what I want." Coby said sadly, reality kicking in.

"Maybe, but I'm asking you anyways." William said with a chuckle. "Come on kid, spill."

"Well I… I want to be a Marine." Coby finally said. "I want to help people, and protect them from monsters like Alvida. Even before I stumbled onto her crew, I always wanted to be one. You, you don't like that, do you."

William tried to hide his wince as Coby told him his dream, but clearly wasn't able to as Coby saw.

"No, no. It's just that I haven't had the best experience with marines, growing up as a criminal and all, and a few of my crew mates have had some pretty bad experiences too."

"Oh…"

…

"Well, our path is clear. Coby! Set course for the nearest Marine base!" Wiliam suddenly declared.

"Huh? Why?"

"Because, now that you're free, you need to go enlist with them. As for me, I need to go find my crew, but I have absolutely no idea where to start so might as well start there."

"Alright. Uh, the closest Marine base is in Shells town."

"Then to Shells town we shall go!"

---

Someone dancing in the pale moonlight may appear a devil, may believe themselves to be one, but sometimes they're just someone that needs a dance partner.

---

"LAND HO!" William called out loudly, his volume causing Coby to wince even as he let out a chuckle.

It had taken them about 2 days to reach Shells Town. The long days had been especially rough given they'd only realized they'd forgotten to grab food or water after Emanon island was out of sight. it was still a pleasant journey despite that though, and Willam did make for good company. Still, because of their long journey, Coby was almost desperate to run to the nearest restaurant to get something to eat, but William insisted they take it slow.

"No matter where you are and where you go, it is always important to get a lay of the land. Take your time and see the sights."

As Willam said this, he was very pointedly looking across the dock, seemingly trying to tell Coby something. Curious, Coby tried to see what he was seeing, but he couldn't. He saw marines patrolling the coast, and a bunch of boats docked, but that was about it. William realized that Coby wasn't seeing what he wanted him to, so the pair just carried on into the town. As they walked, Coby could tell William was agitated by something, probably the heavy marine presence, so he decided to try help William take his mind off it.

"S-so, you never t-told me about the rest of your crew. What are they like?" He asked. "You mentioned Duros w-"

"*GASP*"

Coby was suddenly caught off guard as all the non-Marines around them suddenly let out a huge gasp, the sound almost echoing in the streets. While this surprised and confused Coby, it seemed to make William very suspicious.

"I can share more about my crew another time Coby, I'm more interested in the island we're on at the moment." William replied. "Do you know anything about the Marines in charge of this place?"

"Oh, um, from what I've heard, the marine in charge of this base is known as Captain Axe Hand Morgan."

"*GASP*"

Again the people around them let out a loud gasp, maybe even louder than the first one. This made Coby very confused, but this seemed to have given William some answers.

"On second thought my young friend, I'm getting quite hungry. Why don't we go find something to eat and we can talk as we do."

Without waiting for a response, William pulled Coby away to do exactly that.

---

"I don't get it, the marines protect the regular people. Why did everyone sound scared when I mentioned Ax Hand Morgan?" Coby asked as he and William waited for their food.

"Honestly, with a name like Axe Hand I'm not surprised. He sounds pretty intimidating." William replied. "What I'm more confused by is why they seemed to be scared of Duros."

"I mean, he's a pirate isn't he? Why wouldn't they be scared of him." Coby said bluntly, before quickly adding on. "N-no offence to him, I-I'm sure he's a great guy an-"

Coby cut himself off as William raised a hand for him to stop. William then gave him a serious expression.

"Coby, I've met puppies less bright and friendly than Duros. He is the least piratey pirate you'll ever meet, and is one of the most genuinely kind and friendly people you could know. If these people are scared of him, then either they gave him a reason for him to attack, or something else is going on."

"Um, excuse me."

Both Coby and William turned to see a little girl coming up to their table.

"Did you say you knew Duros? Are you the captain he was talking about?" She asked while looking at William.

"RIKA!" Ririka, the restaurant owner, scolded. "You shouldn't be bothering the customers with stuff like that."

"Now now madam, it's fine." William said with a wave before looking directly at Rika. "And indeed I am, young miss. Do you know where he is?"

To their surprise, Rika suddenly began tearing up.

"H-he got in trouble with the marines because of me, a-and now they have him tied up in the yard."

"Woah, hey, don't worry kid." William said quickly. "If I know Duros, he would swear up and down the streets that you had nothing to do with him getting into trouble, whether or not you actually were the reason."

This did seem to comfort Rika a bit, but her crying didn't stop. Seeing as Rika wasn't cheering up, William promptly turned to Coby.

"Coby, comfort her."

"E-EH! W-why me!?"

"Because I have no idea how to deal with children." William declared confidently.

"W-what?!"

"You really are Duros' captain, aren't you." Ririka cut in as she came over and picked up her daughter.

"What? You believe him?" Coby asked in shock, and the woman let out a small chuckle.

"When Duros was here earlier he was entertaining some of the children, and when I remarked that he was good with them, he remarked that he was so partially because his captain wasn't."

"A skill I shamefully but willingly admit to lacking." William said theatrically before putting on a serious look. "That said, what happened? Duros may dislike the marines, but he certainly isn't the type to cause trouble with them unless they cause trouble with him."

The woman nodded at Willam's words.

"You're right, he didn't start it. Two days ago Duros suddenly showed up here asking if he would do some work for a meal as he didn't have any money, and when I asked what he was doing here, he explained that he'd gotten separated from your crew and that he was looking for you. I felt sorry for him so I put him to work. As for how he got in trouble, I'm assuming you two are aware of the Marine in charge of the base?"

"In name alone." William replied as he and Coby nodded. "Though I am beginning to learn his reputation as well."

"Nothing good I hope." The woman said with a wry chuckle. "Well, what you probably don't know yet is that he has a son named Helmepoo who abuses his father's power. A couple hours after Duros arrived, Helmeppo came into the restaurant with a few of his men and a rabid dog. That dog tried to attack Rika, and might have killed her had Duros not killed it instead. He then tried to scold Helmeppo for not keeping his dogs in line, but the brat wasn't having any of it and tried to arrest him. It wasn't until the brat threatened to destroy my restaurant that Duros let him though."

"I see, that certainly does sound like Duros." William remarked. "Well, now that I know where he is, I believe it's time I go fetch my first mate. Come Coby, let us be off."

Without a moment's hesitation, William marched out the restaurant, Coby following slowly behind him after a few steps William noticed just how slow Coby was going and stopped to let him catch up.

"Something wrong Coby? You're moving pretty slow."

"S-sorry, it's just…" Coby hesitated for a moment, but looked up to see William giving him a genuinely worried look, so he decided to spill. "Duros is a pirate, but he defended a little girl from Marines. That's not how it's supposed to be, it's literally the opposite of how it's supposed to be! I… it just doesn't make sense. Am… am I wrong about the Marines?"

"Coby." William said with a sigh. "Come help me save Duros, and talk to him about that, because I have no idea how to comfort you right now. He will though, so let's go."

Despite himself, Coby couldn't chuckle at William's words. The fact that his response was just to shift the responsibility was so unexpected that it threw him for a loop. It also helped him remember he had more important things to do at the moment than debate morality, so with a nod he picked up speed, and the pair quickly rushed to the main base.

---

Despite William's assurance, Coby as admittedly a bit scared of what kind of person Duros would be. In his mind he imagined this big, dark, heavily scarred man with a glare that could sink ships. This was a man that followed William, which meant he was likely either a very slimy and conniving person who could spin his words like William, or the muscle that backed his captain's schemes up.

His mind began to create all kinds of scenarios for what kind of person Duros could be and what he and William would do, though a small part of him noticed that almost all his scenarios were involving them attacking nobles. These thoughts distracted him all the way until they made it to the wall of the main base. Once they arrived though, both William and Coby looked around to see that there was only a few guards way on the edges of the yard that were too far away and too clearly zoned out to do anything. They thanked their good fortune when they saw this and leapt up to look over the wall to see the sole man tied up there.

"Hello? Is someone there?" A deep voice erupted from the man in the middle of the field.

Turning to the voice, Coby took in the sight of the man with a bit of surprise. While he wasn't quite as big as Coby envisioned, he was certainly very big, likely standing at at least 6'3'', and having muscles thicker than the posts that were holding him in place. He was also very heavily scarred like Coby expected, having a large amount of nasty looking slash and burn scars all over him, all of which were on display as he was only wearing some boxers, but that was where the similarities to his expectations stopped. As opposed to the dark monster of a man he'd expected, Duros had bleached blond hair and dull blue eyes, and a very joyful looking face even despite the fact that he wasn't smiling at the moment. He seemed somewhat relaxed yet still in a firm posture, or at least the best he could while tied up. Despite his large size and heavy scarring, Coby could genuinely see why William compared the man to a puppy.

"Captain? Is that you?" Duros called out as his eyes properly focused on them, prompting William to hop over the wall and walk over to him.

"Indeed it is my good man. How are you Duros?" William replied, and a wide smile grew across Duros' face.

"Quite well, all things considered. And you?"

"Well, I'm still recovering somewhat from a concussion I got during the storm, but I'd say I'm doing fairly well. I've even gained a new companion. Coby, come over here and meet my crewmate."

Coby moved to leap over the wall, but common sense took over in that moment and he looked nervously up and down the yard, eyeing the small smattering of clearly uncaring guards at the edges of the area and fearing they might suddenly start shooting them.

"Come on Coby, what are you waiting for?" William called impatiently. "Duros doesn't bite, and I usually don't."

Gulping down his nervousness, Coby quickly jumped over the wall and ran up to the pair.

"N-nice to meet you D-Duros." Coby said nervously.

"Oh, I assure you, the pleasure is all mine." Duros said with a smile. "Any friend of the Captain's is a friend of mine. Still captain, it's only been a few days since we got separated, how did you manage to find a new companion so fast?"

"Ah well, to explain that, I must tell a wild tale of fear, bravery, and nauseating ugliness. But, to tell it simply, this young man here was key in my incredible escape from the truly monstrous pirate known as Iron Club Alvida."

"W-WHAT! N-NO NO, I-I didn't do anything! You just showed up and saved me while I stood around scared!" Coby quickly exclaimed, only for William to laugh in response.

"Nonsense, if it weren't for your bravery and kindness, I would either still be stuck in that barrel floating at sea, or in that disgusting woman's stomach."

"Bu-"

"Dur-ha-ha-ha! You've certainly found a fine young man Captain, so humble too." Duros said with a smile.

"Yes well, unfortunately he won't be joining us on our crew, he has his own path. Before that though, why don't we get you out of these ropes." William said as he reached over to untie the ropes.

"Maybe, they are getting a bit uncomfortable." Duros said, the smile on his face fading slightly. "Though, I'm not sure if you've noticed, but the marines her do a good job of keeping an eye on the citizens."

Hearing this, William stopped in his efforts to untie Duros, his own smile fading away almost entirely.

"Interesting, that's good to know. I'm impressed at how observant you are getting."

"Well, I've learned from the best Captain." Duros replied.

"Indeed you have Duros, indeed you have. Well, I suppose that we'd best get going. Come Coby, let us be off!"

William then abruptly grabbed Coby, who'd been trying to untie Duros as well, and dragged him off.

"What? But I thought we-"

"Zip it Coby, keep quiet until we get some place a bit more private." William interrupted with a harsh whisper, and he continued to drag him off.

---

"What's going on? I thought you went over there to free Duros, not just talk to him?" Coby asked William.

William had brought Coby back to the restaurant after their meeting with Duros, and he'd been deep in thought ever since. It took Coby almost half an hour to get the courage to ask his question, and when he did he was given a sigh in response.

"Coby, it wasn't being observant that Duros learned from me, it was subtlety." He said.

"Um, ok?" Coby said in confusion, and William let out a heavier sigh before looking straight at Coby.

"Coby, you saw Duros, his arms are bigger than those posts and he stands easily a good half of that thing taller. He could break out of that thing if he really wanted to, but he didn't. Why do you think he isn't? I'll give you a hint, he told us why."

Confused, Coby thought for a moment, trying to think about what William could mean, but he couldn't figure it out.

"Um, does he think you two wouldn't be able to escape the marines?" Coby guessed, but William shook his head.

"No, that's not it. We honestly might be strong enough to take this whole base by ourselves actually. I'll give you another hint. Duros mentioned how the marines were keeping an eye on the citizens."

"Isn't that their job?" Coby asked confused, and William let out a defeated sigh.

"Alright, I guess I have to spell it out for you. The reason Duros is still tied up is because they're threatening to hurt the regular people if he tries to escape. I personally may not care too much, but Duros does, so in order to get him out of there, we need to make sure we can do so without the marines hurting any civilians."

"W-wait, you don't think the Marines would actually t-threaten people just to keep your friend there, w-would they?" Coby asked nervously.

"I don't know honestly." William said with a shrug. "Though I'm more inclined to believe that they would than not given what we saw when we got here."

"H-huh? I-I know that the people aren't fans of Morgan, but that dosent mean much, does it?"

"It's a clear day Coby, yet there weren't any fishing boats out on the sea when we got here." William said bluntly. "It doesn't matter what time of day it is or what island it is, if the weather is clear and the island is inhabited, there will ALWAYS be someone fishing. The only exception to this rule is if they're not allowed to fish, and if they're not allowed to fish then who knows what else the person stopping them will do."

"Oh…" Coby said sullenly.

"In the end though, it doesn't matter if they would or not, what matters is that Duros thinks they will." William said with a sigh. "In order to free him, we need to make sure they wont attack civilians in the process."

"B-but, how are we going to do that then?"

"That's the question." William replied as he fell back into his thoughts.

"Bartender! Bring out your finest wine, on the house of course. I feel like having a celebration."

Of course, William's thinking didn't last long as he was soon interrupted by a snively voice cutting through the bar, and he and Coby turned to see a pathetic looking blond man in a purple suit flanked by a pair of marines that looked like they'd rather be anywhere else than here.

"Right away Mr. Helmeppo." Ririka said as she went into the back.

Meanwhile, Helmeppo arrogantly walked over to a clean table and sat down in the chair, practically throwing his feet up with a loud *THUD* while both Marines stood behind him as guards. Ririka soon came back with a bottle of wine and a single glass, and poured Helmeppo a drink which the man quickly downed. While this all happened, most of the people in the restaurant put their heads down and tried to ignore him while avoiding being seen, and Coby looked at him the same way he usually looked at Alvida, with equal parts fear and disgust. William though, he was looking quite intently at Helmeppo.

"Hm, this wine is mediocre, but I suppose you wouldn't know the difference." Helmeppo said arrogantly as he snatched the bottle out of Ririka's hands. "I guess I'll do you the favor of drinking it all for you. Besides, even something like this isn't enough to ruin my good mood!"

"Oh really? And what pray tell has put you in such a good mood?" William asked dramatically as he stood up and walked over to Helmeppo.

"Huh? Who are you?" Helmeppo asked him with a suspicious look.

"Oh, I am but a curious traveler, Jakob Masters is the name. I'm what you would call an admirer of the Marines. I've been going about exploring the seas to meet some of the greatest Marines in all the four blues, and I'd come to this base to meet the legend that runs it. I'm assuming you're aware of the great Captain Axe Hand Morgan?"

"Know him, Morgan is my father." Helmeppo said proudly.

"Wait, really?" William asked with an excited look. "You're telling me that I stand before the son of a legend?"

All around the restaurant, people began to look at William in disgust at what he was doing, even Ririka. The only ones who weren't were Rika and Coby. Rika was looking confused, while Coby was hovering between looking nervous and smirking, having already figured out what Willam was doing more or less, but not exactly confident in him yet.

"Why yes, that's exactly what I'm telling you." Helmeppo replied. "My father is Captain Morgan, the second strongest Marine stationed in the East Blue. Though, if I'm being honest, I'm sure daddy could beat that freak Smoker easily, wouldn't you agree?"

"I'll admit I've never actually met Smoker, so I cant say for sure. But, I have heard far more about your father than I've heard of Smoker, so I would be hard pressed to argue otherwise." William said with a smile. "Tell me, did he really beat that one pirate captain, uhhhh… what was their name again?"

"You must be talking about Captain Kuro, the former leader of the Black Cat pirates." Helmeppo said eagerly.

"AH YES! KURO! That's his name. He was certainly a clever and dangerous pirate, but nothing in the face of Morgan's mighty AXE!"

"Absolutely. Man of a thousand plans, yet none of them could even slow my daddy down." Helmeppo said dismissively.

"Too true, too true. Anyways, back to my original question. If it's not too presumptuous of me, what exactly has you in such a marvelous mood?"

"Nothing much, just that we will be executing a particularly frustrating prisoner very soon." Helmeppo replied as he took another drink of his wine, his words drawing a small twitch from William.

"Oh, and who is this prisoner that seems to have upset you so?" William asked.

"I thought that was obvious. You don't know?"

"I confess I only arrived on this island an hour ago, so I am not at all aware of what goings on may have happened. Might you be so kind as to inform me?" William said humbly.

"Hm, I suppose I can, though it's honestly hardly worth knowing. Some no name pirate decided to attack me while I was eating, and when my brave dog Soro tried to defend me, that barbaric man ruthlessly crushed him."

"T-mphf!"

When Helmeppo said that, Rika began to yell out against it, but Coby was able to quickly grab her and put a hand over her mouth to quiet her.

"Why, the scoundrel!" William cried out, as if he were personally offended by the tale, and in a small way he was. "How dare he attack a wonderful man such as yourself. Surely he must be under guard by at least 10 men to ensure he doesn't dare attempt something like that again!"

"Hardly." Helmeppo replied with a scoff. "Someone as unimportant as him doesn't deserve a guard. No, we just have him tied up in the middle of the training yard where we can easily see him, we can easily just recapture him if he tried to run."

"Ah, I see, the men probably have better things to do than waste time guarding some no name. A wise captain like Morgan must have planned out efficient patrols for his men to take in order to ensure this island's safety. He probably has 5, maybe 10 people on each coast?"

"Actually, besides my personal guard, Daddy called all the men back to base for the day." Helmeppo said before downing the rest of his glass.

This gave William pause. Just for a moment, but it gave him pause, and he turned around to give Coby a smirk before turning back to Helmeppo.

"Really." William asked slowly and carefully, openly curious. "And, why pray tell is that?"

"Daddy had a stature of himself commissioned recently, the money generously donated by the people of this island for protecting them of course." Helmeppo said flippantly.

"Of course. These people have the honor of being protected by him after all."

"That they do. Anyways, he called all the men off their patrols around the island in order for them to help put the statue up."

"All of them? Not a single Marine out patrolling the town or the coast?" William asked.

"Of course not, it's a big statue after all. The only marines not helping are the ones in charge of the paperwork or cleaning."

"I see, though one worry strikes me." William said contemplatively. "If all the marines are busy putting up the statue in your father's honor, what of the criminal? Surely someone as dangerous as him would have some dangerous weapons to wield. If he were to escape and reclaim those while they were all distracted, he might go after you again."

"Please, calling what he had dangerous is more than a bit of an exaggeration." Helmeppo again scoffed. "He admittedly had an impressive set of armor and shield, one that looks much better sitting as a decoration in my room than it ever did on him, but his weapon was just a poorly made hammer that we just threw into the ocean."

"I see. One more question then."

*Shing*

*Thunk thunk*

*Thud thud*

In barely a blink, William drew his sword and hit both of Helmeppo's guards with the back of the blade, knocking them to the floor unconscious, and pressed the edge against his neck.

"You mind showing me exactly where that is?" William asked with a venomous smile.

"W-What?" Helmeppo stuttered as he began to panic. "J-Jakob? What are you doing? D-daddy wont be happy when he learns you d-did this."

"Yeah well, I'm not exactly here for your 'daddy', and with how you talk about him I'm beginning to question if your relationship isn't more of a kinky thing than a familial thing, but that's besides the point. What is the point is that I'm actually here for my crewmate Duros."

"W-What?!" Helmeppo practically screeched.

"Allow me to reintroduce myself. My name is William Emanon, captain of my yet unnamed pirate crew, and Duros is one of my crewmates. So, you're going to show me where his armor is, or I'm going to bring your 'daddy' your head… both of them." William said, his tone very dangerous.

"O-O-O-OK, I-I'll show you, just please don't cut off either of my heads!" Helmeppo said in a panic, the distinct smell of urine beginning to waft off of him.

"Marvelous! Also disgusting!" William said in a cheery tone before turning to Coby. "Come now my young friend, it would seem that the very devil's luck that led me to you has also given me the perfect opportunity to free my friend. Come, let us be off!"

"A-alright." Coby said quickly as he followed William out of the restaurant, the pirate dragging Helmeppo along in a choke hold. "S-so what's the plan?"

"The plan is simple. With all the Marines in the base, we have no reason to worry about them attacking people, so I'm going to take this sniveling coward with me to find Duros' armor and distract the marines. Meanwhile, you're going to go untie Duros."

"A-a-and then what?" Coby asked.

"Then? Then we go beat everyone up, simple as that."

"W-what?! You really think you can just take down the entire base with just the two of you?!"

"Of course I do, I said as much earlier." William said simply before giving Coby a side eye. "Unless you have a better plan?"

"I-I… no." Coby replied defeatedly.

"I thought so. Now, off we go!"

---

True to Helmeppo's word, the courtyard was completely empty besides Duros. While the first time around Coby had seen a small handful of uncaring guards walking around the edges, this time there was absolutely no one, and no matter how hard he looked he couldn't see anyone (he wished he had a telescope just to be sure). It still took him an embarrassingly long time to actually work up the nerve to jump the wall and run over to him, but he eventually managed to push himself to do what he needed to do.

"Oh, Coby my boy, what are you doing here?" Duros asked as he approached.

"I-I'm here to get you out Duros, I-I'll only be a second."

"I see. You don't have to worry about that though, I'm actually quite comfo-"

"All the marines are in the base right now, so no one's going to hurt the civilians." Coby interrupted Duros. "William's looking for your armor right now."

"Oh really? Why that's glorious news!" Duros said with a bright smile. "In that case, please do hurry, my arms are quite sore."

Coby didn't respond, all his focus now on untying the ropes as quickly as possible.

"Well well, what do we have here?"

Fortune didn't seem to be kind though. With a fearful turn of his head, Coby could only look in horror as a group of marines lead by a large blond man with an axe for a hand, clearly Axe hand Morgan, were approaching them.

"Well, my friend here was just trying to fix a mistake your men made." Duros said cheerfully.

"Oh, you're saying tying you up was a mistake, so now he's untying you?" Morgan asked mockingly.

"I… actually meant he was tightening the ropes…" Duros then said awkwardly. "I'm not very good at this deception thing am I?"

"Bahahahahaha! You pirates are all the same, attempting your pathetic tricks and plans that only a fool would fall for. Honestly, the only reason any of you are still on the seas is because of the higher ups incompetence." Morgan said proudly before looking Duros dead in the eyes. "Men, shoot to kill."

---

"Man, this place is weirdly empty. I know you said everyone would be busy, but this is just eery." William whispered as he snuck through the base.

"A-actually, I agree with you." Helmeppo said nervously. "There should at least be a few men wandering around to come save me."

"Yeah yeah, you think I'm just a coward who'll drop you and run the moment I see someone, I get it." William said with a roll of his eyes. "Now can you just get to showing me where to go?"

"R-right, just up these stairs and you'll be just about there."

William quickly ran up the pointed to stairs and opened the door, only to find himself on the roof. On said roof was the broken remains of what was clearly the statue of Morgan, along with a couple of bloody bodies with wounds William instantly recognized as being made by an axe. Quickly putting two and two together, William ran over to the edge just in time to see Morgan walking out of the building and onto the courtyard.

"Shit, looks like Morgan isn't distracted anymore and has already noticed Coby." William said to himself before whirling on Helmeppo. "And you were trying to trick me into facing your dad head on in hopes he could kill me!"

"I-I-I-"

Helmeppo began stuttering with terror as William glared at him. William then drew his sword once again and pressed it right against his crotch.

"Alright, here's the deal. I don't have time to mess around anymore, so if you don't tell me where the room with Duro's armor is right now, head number 2 is coming off, GOT IT?"

"ONE FLOOR DOWN SEVENTH DOOR ON THE RIGHT!" Helmeppo quickly said.

"Alright." William said as he once again grabbed Helmeppo and quickly ran to where he said. "But you know that if this room isn't the right room, I'm cutting it off, right?"

Helmeppo could only nod and whimper in response as William continued to drag him along.

Fortunately for both of them, the room Helmeppo directed them to was indeed his room, which held the sought after armor.

"Huh, this is very… pink. Not exactly dissuading my earlier assumptions here, all you're missing is the toys and some makeup." William remarked uncomfortably as he grabbed the armor and shield. "Seriously though, what is rich peoples' obsession with pink and purple? Almost every noble house I've been in has at least one room that is all pink or purple that isn't a girl's room."

"Y-you just don't understand style!" Helmeppo said. "N-now, you have what you want, s-so get out!"

"Yeah yeah." William muttered as he walked over to the window, just in time to see the Marines raising their guns.

"Shit!"

---

Coby looked at the firing squad in terror, no doubt certain death would come from the ends of those barrels. He wanted to scream, to run away, and almost took a step to do so when he heard a voice.

"Don't run away Coby, use my body as a shield." Duros told him.

"Huh? B-but you'll be killed!" Coby exclaimed.

"I would be killed regardless, and so would you if you tried to run. If you stay here, then I can at least protect you with my body. Otherwise they would just turn and shoot you as you ran."

Coby stilled as he heard this. Looking at Duros, there wasn't a hint of fear in his gaze, only determination, something his voice was flooded with. He sounded nothing like William, Duros was a stout defender that could lead others into battle with the confidence they would all survive no matter the odds. Fearfully, Coby did as Duros asked even as he doubted things would turn out well, and prepared for the end.

*BANG*

*CLANG*

"Gah! Well, sore knees are going to be accompanying my headache later, but at least I got here in time."

Coby looked up in surprise to see William standing between them and the Marines, carrying a big suit of armor and a shield that he used to block the bullets.

"Captain! You arrived just in time!" Duros shouted excitedly.

"That I did my good man. Now, I believe it would be best if you beat your record for how fast you're able to put your armor on right now, otherwise things might get difficult." William said as he cut through the ropes holding Duros and tossed the man his armor.

"I will try my best captain." Duros replied as he began to do as told.

William then sheathed his sword and pulled out his gun, using Duros's shield to block the bullets being fired at the three of them while returning with shots of his own.

"What the hell is going on?! Who is that rat?!" Morgan yelled from where he was standing.

"I'm not sure sir." One of the Marines said. "He appears to be a companion of the prisoner. What should we do?"

"What should you do? What should you do?! Kill him! That's what you should do!" Morgan yelled. "By freeing the prisoner, he's directly going up against me, acting in defiance to my greatness. He's blocking your bullets with that worthless shield, so run up to him and cut him in half!"

"Yes sir!" The marine said fearfully.

"Hey Duros? You done yet? The marines seem to have gotten smart and are rushing us now." William said as he fired another shot with his pistol from behind the cover of Duros' shield.

"Almost captain, though I seem to be lacking a weapon." Duros replied.

"Ah, yeah, they threw it out apparently. Luckly for you though, I have a replacement."

With a yell, the marines descended on the trio with swords drawn and prepared to cut William down, only for Duros to now get between them, his armor now on and wielding both his shield and Alvida's mace.

"Hm, it's heavier than I'm used to." Duros remarked as he held off a dozen swords. "But I don't think it's going to be too much of an adjustment."

"Glad you like it Duros." William said as he slipped around the knight and drew his sword, slashing through the enemy Marines with ease. "Sorry about your old one though."

"It's fine captain, it was just something I picked up from a bandit that tried to rob me, no need to worry about it." Duros replied as he began bashing marines left and right.

The fight was a one sided massacre. In barely a few moments, half the marines that had charged the pair were either cut down, on the floor in pain from a bullet wound, or had half their bones broken from a single swing of Duros' new weapon. The rest of the marines saw this and became terrified, the way these cheerful men just wiped them out with barely a thought telling them just how outmatched they were, and many began quaking in their boots and instinctively moving back.

"Th-these guys are monsters." One said.

"They have Alvida's iron mace…" A second said fearfully.

"There's no way we can beat these guys." A third said.

As the marines began slowly backing away from William and Duros in fear, the pair of pirates let them, and even Coby started feeling confident enough to step out from behind the post he was hiding behind and make his way closer. As they did though, Morgan's voice cut through the crowd.

"Men, this is a direct order from your commanding officer!" He yelled. "Anyone who just took a step back or expressed fear towards these pirates is to raise their gun to their own head and shoot!"

"Is… is he serious?" William asked, only to watch as about half the men began pointing the barrels of their guns at their own heads. "Oh crap, he is."

"MARINES!" Duros shouted over everyone. "What are you doing!? Are you really letting this man tell you to end your own lives?! Do you really fear him that much!?"

"Idiot pirate, it's not about fear, it's about order." Morgan said. "As the great captain of this base, it's their duty to follow my every command. To object to an order is the equivalent of declaring themselves an enemy of the marines and myself."

"You call yourself their leader even as they tremble in fear of you? No, you are no leader, you are a tyrant! A true leader like my captain would never tell me to do something as horrible as to uselessly end my own life!" Duros declared confidently, before quickly turning to William and asking. "You wouldn't tell me to shoot myself in the head, would you captain?"

"Of course not!" William replied, sounding a bit offended. "The only time I would is if the gun was loaded with blanks or, I don't know, a healing bullet or something."

"Please, I know your kind." Morgan replied, ignoring their banter. "You pirates would order your subordinates to shoot themselves for fun and to sooth your own ego! What I'm doing here-"

"Is exactly that." William interrupted with a sigh. "You're pissed that strong people are beating your men, so to sooth your own ego you're telling your men to kill themselves."

"As a leader, you are nothing but an arrogant child!" Duros then declared. "And my captain and I shall punish you for that."

"Well said Duros." William said. "As for the rest of you Marines, just put your guns down and back off, you don't have a reason to fight us anymore considering we're apparently now on your side."

With that said, William and Duros began walking straight towards Axe hand Morgan. To the Marine captain's shock and utter rage, his men actually listened to the two pirates and backed off.

"You cowards! Get back here or I'll kill you myself!" He yelled at his men, but they didn't listen.

In a rage, Morgan completely ignored William and Duros and attacked one of his men, only for his axe to get stopped by a shield. Behind the shield, Duros gave the man a blazing glare, but before Morgan could do anything about it, he let out a cry of pain as he felt a slash on his legs.

"Man, this sword is crap, that slice should have cut off his leg completely. Once we get the crew back together, we really need to go shopping." William said casually.

Feeling this, Morgan spun around and tried to cut William with his axe, but William just flipped over the axe and used it as an anchor point to kick him in the face. As Morgan was reeling back from the kick, Duros slammed his new mace into his face as well with a cry of "MACE TO THE FACE!" and sent him flying back, with William following it up with a shot from his pistol right into his shoulder.

"Agreed captain." Duros replied, turning to William and not even bothering to look at Morgan anymore. "Speaking of the others though, it's a shame Ragnar isn't here, he would have loved to show this man the proper way to wield an axe."

"S-S-STOP RIGHT THERE! DON'T MOVE OR THIS KID GET'S IT!"

Hearing this, both William and Duros pause and turn to see Helmeppo holding a gun to Coby's head. While Duros simply glared at the man, William had a few emotions flash through his eyes for a moment before finally settling on fear.

"Oh no, Duros, he's got a gun to Coby's head! This is bad." William said fearfully.

"Indeed he does Captain."

"We've got to get him away before Coby get's mad!"

"That's right, don't move or I'll… wait, before Coby get's mad?" Helmeppo questioned.

"You remember what happened last time he got mad, right Duros, it was terrifying!" William said, completely ignoring Helmeppo.

"Indeed I do Captain. I uh, can't look at coconuts the same way?" Duros said, awkwardly trying to go along with what William was doing.

"Exactly, and all those poor pig farmers, they're going to be traumatized for life! Not to mention, just recently he killed Iron Mace Alvida in one punch, gore flying everywhere. I'm pretty sure there's still some of it in my hair." William continued, looking extremely nervous and slightly disgusted.

"W-wait, r-really?" Helmeppo questioned, his grip on his gun growing shaky. "You mean, he's the one who-OOOOFFF!"

As Helmeppo was distracted by William's story, Coby took the opportunity to spin around and punch Helmeppo straight in the stomach. Then with a loud yell, he followed this up with a punch to the face that sent him to the ground, dropping the gun which Coby then picked up and pointed at him.

"Everything William just said is a lie, he saved me from Alvida while I stood around too scared to even hide! But, if I can be even a quarter of the man he pretends I am, then I'll be ten times better a man than you!" Coby shouted.

"Well said my boy!" Duros congratulated.

"I knew you had it in you Coby." William cheered alongside him.

"You scum. DIE!"

"Oh right, forgot about you." William said as he looked over his shoulder to see Morgan again charging at them. "Duros, you mind?"

"Allow me captain."

As Morgan came in charging and swinging his axe at William, Duros came between them and deflected the axe with his shield before slamming him in the stomach with his mace once again. With a loud groan, Morgan doubled over, his face coming down right next to William's, where the pirate captain placed the tip of his cutlas against his neck. With Morgan pretty much held in place, William turned his attention to the rest of the marines surrounding them.

"So, are you going to lock this guy up or something? Cause if you're not then I'm just going to kill him." He said frankly.

"We'll uh, we'll throw him in a jail cell if you leave him alive, and have him court marshaled for abuse of power." A random dark-skinned marine said nervously. "If uh, if you'll let us."

"Alright." William said with a shrug, and unceremoniously hit Morgan in the temple with the handle of his blade, knocking him out once and for all.

Duros pulled back and let Morgan fall to the ground unconscious, and for a moment the whole courtyard was silent as everyone stared at Duros and William standing before the unconscious Marine. Then, almost as one, all the marines let out a cheer of joy, throwing up their weapons and some even began hugging. While they did this, Duros turned to his captain with a smile.

"Well then captain, what now?"

"Now, now we go get some supper. After that, it's off to find everyone else."

"Very well."

And with that, the pair walked off back to the town. As they did, they walked past Coby, and William gave him a pat on the shoulder.

"See you around kid, and good luck with all the Marine stuff you'll be up to."

Coby jumped at the feeling of William's hand, being distracted by all the cheering and coming down from the adrenalin. Before he could even say anything though, William and Duros were already walking away, leaving him to his own devices.

---

"So that huge storm really sent us all the way to the East Blue?" Duros asked as he and William loaded up the supplies the town's people gave them in thanks. ("You really threw everyone for a loop with that act you pulled. Even I was fooled into thinking you were just tricking me earlier." Ririka told the pair when they came with news of Morgan's defeat.)

"Seems like it. I don't know how much of the crew survived though. To be honest I'm surprised I'm still alive considering I was just stuck in a barrel. What about you, did any of the other people in your escape boat make it?" William asked.

"Sadly no." Duros said regretfully. "Our boat was attacked by a sea king not to long after we fled the ship, and I was barely able to keep myself alive by clinging to the monster as the others either were eaten or drowned. I'm sorry captain, I failed you."

"It's fine Duros. That storm was so intense it sent us across two calm belts and the whole grand line somehow, so the fact that any of us survived is a complete win." William said, words light yet his voice somber.

"I suppose that is true. On that note though, what happened to Rick? He was the last one on the ship with you when you helped us off."

"Rick… Rick didn't make it." William said sadly. "As we were trying to figure out some way for us to survive the storm, Rick got crushed by one of the crossbeams. I don't know what happened to his body after that, but unless a miracle happened, he's definitely dead."

"Oh… I'm sorry captain, I know the two of you were close."

"It's… it's fine Duros, I've had a few days to accept it by now, I'm over it."

Duros looked at William as he held back his tears, and could not hold himself back. He reached right over to William and pulled him in for a hug.

"DON'T CRY CAPTIAN, I WILL BE YOUR FIRST AND BEST MATE FROM NOW ON! COME CAPTIAN, ACCEPT MY LOVE!"

"GAH, Duros, I'm accepting your love, now please stop crushing me with your armor!" William strangled out.

"Um, is this a bad time?"

Hearing a familiar voice, William and Duros stopped their antics and turned to see Coby standing a few feet away from them, now wearing a nice white uniform.

"No no, it's fine Coby." William said. "I see that you're officially a part of the marines now huh?"

"Not really." Coby said shyly. "I'm just a chore boy for now, not an actual Marine, but the new commander said I'm a shoe in to become one once I've gone through some training."

"Well, congratulations my boy, I'm glad you're one step closer to achieving your goal." Duros congratulated. "You know, you remind me of someone. A young man about your age who's a friend of the crew and who also wanted to become a great marine. Cyril was his name, perhaps you'll meet him later on."

"CYRIL! That's who Coby reminds me of!" William exclaimed with a face palm. "I knew he felt familiar and I've been wracking my brain to figure out why."

"Huh, who's Cyril?" Coby asked.

"Like Duros said, Cyril is a friend of the crew who's a marine." William said with a shrug. "Long story short, back down in the South Blue he ended up getting separated from his platoon on an abandoned island when we found him. He probably would have died if we hadn't stumbled upon him. We took him onto the crew for a bit and got to know him before dropping him off at another marine base."

"Oh, he sounds interesting. Maybe I will meet him at some point. Anyways, if you don't mind William, there's something private I'd like to ask Duros."

"I'm cool with that." William said with a shrug. "Duros, you cool with him asking you something in private?"

"Of course." Duros said with a smile as he stepped off the boat. "Come Coby, let's find some place private to talk."

The pair walked a good distance away from the docks and ended up sliding into an alley to talk alone. In there, Duros gave Coby a smile, silently telling him to ask his question. Coby opened his mouth to do so, but stopped himself. He thought more about his question, now suddenly unsure about it. Duros waited patiently for Coby to speak, the young man having multiple false starts before finally settling on a question.

"Duros, why did you decide to become a pirate?" Coby asked. "From what I can tell, you seem to care a lot about protecting people and doing good but, a-and no offence, but William doesn't seem like all that good of a person."

"No offence taken; the captain certainly doesn't appear to be a particularly good man." Duros said with a good-natured chuckle. "Though, William is actually a better man than he appears, and a much better man than he thinks himself to be. If he weren't, then I probably wouldn't follow him at all. But, to answer your question, has the captain told you the two requirements for a person to be a pirate?"

Coby nodded, and his eyes widened a moment later.

"You mean, you were a criminal before you became a pirate?" he asked.

"I wouldn't call myself one no, but the World Government likely would." Duros said with a shake of his head. "To keep things brief, back in my home country things happened and I was forced to choose between protecting the safety and happiness of the people of the kingdom, and feeding into the cruelty and corruption of my king. Myself along with many of my fellow knights chose the former, but the Marines chose the latter, and as a result I found myself labeled a criminal because I did my duty."

"That's, that's awful!" Coby exclaimed. "I can't believe the Marines would do that!"

"Neither could I at the time, but that's what happened, and I was given many scars to prove it." Duros said, the cheer fading slightly from his voice.

"So, what happened after all that?" Coby asked.

"After that? Well, after that the captain saved me."

---

"*HUFF* *HUFF* *HUFF*"

Duros panted with exhaustion as he looked unfeelingly at the mangled, dead bodies of the bandits in front of him, the cheap hammer that he stole from them stained with blood in his hand. The morning sun shone through the trees, painting the gore in an almost picturesque light, and yet Duros could feel nothing as he sat down on a rock and stared down at himself. His bare chest was on display, his Tarako kingdom armor having been tossed away in shame the moment he had the strength to do so, revealing the many still open and enflamed wounds from the battle where he failed.

It had been a few days since the battle, but he had yet to even attempt to bandage the wounds he received from it. He told himself he hadn't purely because he hadn't found any medical supplies, but the truth was he didn't feel he deserved treatment after his failure. So, burns upon burns, bruises and swelling from broken bones, and countless cuts and piercing wounds littered his body, many still even bleeding slightly. No matter the pain upon his body though, it was his heart and soul that hurt the most.

"Excuse me there fine sir, your name wouldn't happen to b- holy crap, what happened here!?"

Duros was pulled from his brooding as an unfamiliar voice rang through the forest. Turning, Duros saw a slim looking man, who reminded him heavily of the people he would see trying to trick his prince in to things. This man quickly came up to him and winced at his injuries.

"Woah, you look fucked up. What happened?"

"Nothing you need to care about. Now leave me alone, you have no reason to speak with me." Duros replied.

"Maybe, maybe not. That depends on one thing. Your name wouldn't happen to be Samillion now would it?" The man asked.

"No, my name is Duros, now leave me alone."

"I see. My name is William, nice to meet you Duros." William replied as he stuck out his hand to shake.

Duros refused to respond to the man, and after a moment the man let out a defeated sigh and walked off, once again leaving Duros alone to his thoughts. Duros once again thought back to his prince, to his people, and how he had failed them, only for his thoughts to be interrupted by an annoyed groan, and suddenly he felt someone lifting his arm.

"Shit, you look even worse than I thought. I'm definitely going to have to get Daisy to take a look at you." William muttered.

"What are you doing? I told you to leave me alone!" Duros said sternly, but William just shrugged it off.

"Yeah well, you're a fucked-up mess with at least a dozen infected wounds. You're definitely going to die if I don't help you, so just let me do this ok." William said as he pulled out a small med kit and started cleaning Duros' wounds.

"You'd do best to leave me alone regardless." Duros said seriously. "The navy is after me at this very moment."

"We're all running from them for one reason or another, that's just how life works." William replied as he continued treating Duros. "But neither of us have to worry about them here."

"Maybe, but they might come for me regardless." Duros replied.

"You're… not a local, are you." William asked, and Duros shook his head. "Fair enough, then as a fellow non local, allow me to be the first to welcome you to Gallows Island, one of the few islands in the South Blue that the marines avoid."

"They avoid this place? Why?"

"Well, from what I can tell, it's because they police themselves and aren't affiliated with the World Government. That and they're a bunch of crazy people that like hanging anyone they can for whatever reason."

William then went silent then as he focused all his attention on bandaging Duros up, applying whatever creams he had in his kit onto his wounds.

"Alright, I've done the best I can, but you definitely need a doctor to look at you." William said as he finished. "Can you walk?"

"I can." Duros replied, but remained seated, causing William to let out a sigh.

"Look, you can either stand up and walk with me back to my crew, or I can drag you there. Or if you really want to just die of those wounds or some shit, I can just leave you here, but I don't think either of us want that. So, what's it going to be?"

"… I suppose it would be rude of me to deny your help if you're so insistent." Duros said as he slowly stood up. "I shall walk."

"Excellent, then follow my lead." William said as he began to walk off.

The duo made their way through the forest, and quickly found themselves approaching a beach where a good-sized ship was docked and a small handful of people were milling about. As they came out from the trees, a big burly bald man and a fairly young teen turned to them, one with worry and one with excitement.

"Captain, you're back." The young teen said happily.

"Did you find my son?" The bald man asked worriedly.

"Unfortunately not yet my good sir." William told the man. "However, I did find this man in pretty rough condition, so I decided it best I bring him back as soon as possible. Jimmy, can you run onto the ship and tell Daisy to get her stuff ready? I patched this guy up as best I could, but I'd really like her to take a look at him."

"Right away captain." The teen said with a salute before running to do as asked.

"Well now, while we wait, I'm going to check in on my shipwright." William said, before walking over to another large man, larger than even Duros himself, covered in hair and wearing an eyepatch. "Ragnar, how's the ship looking?"

"It's doing pretty alright William." Ragnar said. "A couple of boards were beginning to crack and rot so I had to replace them, but otherwise it's doing fine."

"Wonderful, I'm glad to hear at least the ship is doing well. In any case, we have a guest. Allow me to introduce our new friend Duros."

As William said that, Duros found himself being shoved right into the burly bear man's face.

"Ah, nice to meet you Dos." Ragnar said. "I didn't expect to see another barbarian."

"Wha? I AM NO BARBARIAN. I AM A-"

"Woah, calm down Duros." William quickly said as he got between the two. "That wasn't an insult, It's a cultural thing. Ragnar is from a group that proudly declares themselves barbarians, so that's more him complimenting how strong you look."

"O-oh, I see. I apologize for my hostility." Duros apologized.

"Eh, it's fine Dos, I get it all the time." Ragnar said with a shrug.

"Captian!" Jimmy then called down from the ship. "Daisy's ready for you."

"Excelent! Come Duros, time to get you properly looked at."

---

"Well, the captain did an ok job with what he had, but it's definitely a good thing you came to me. None of these wounds look fresh though, like you got hurt days ago and didn't bother treating any of them." Daisy said as she inspected Duros.

"I didn't have any medical supplies to treat them." Duros said, but Daisy scoffed.

"You have decently intact pants, and you look strong enough to tear them apart. You could have ripped them up to use as bandages. No point worrying about modesty if you're half dead. Seriously, I swear the only person I know that actually worries about their own injuries is William."

"I know that's supposed to be a compliment to me, but it feels more like an insult for some reason." The man in question said. "Anyways, you look like you're all well and good here, I'm going to go back to searching."

"Alright, I'll see you later then captain." Daisy waved William off as he left.

From there the room fell mostly into silence as Daisy finished properly disinfecting and bandaging all of Duros' wounds, muttering quietly to herself all the while.

"There." She said once she was done. "Now just lay down as comfortably as you can. I'd tell you you're on bed rest for the next week or two, but I know your type so I know you wont stay put. Still, if you could at least humor me for a bit, I'd appreciate it."

Daisy then began cleaning up all her supplies, leaving Duros with nothing to do but lay down as asked. While he watched her clean up, Duros decided to ask a question that had been bothering him for a while.

"I've been wondering something. You and that young man from earlier both called William captain, but you don't look like navy officers, or any form of soldiers for that matter. Are you a mercenary band perhaps, or a group of bounty hunters?" He asked.

"Nope, we're pirates." Daisy replied easily.

Instantly Duros' grip on his hammer tightened, and he became far more aware of where he was and the fact that this woman had placed multiple unknown ointments on his body.

"Pirates? You willingly refer to yourselves as those scourges of the seas?" Duros said threateningly as he began to sit back up in the bed.

"Calling us one of the 'scourges of the seas' is a bit much, especially considering we've only been a crew for about two weeks now." Daisy replied without looking. "Now lay back down and relax, there's no reason for you to get all excited. Even if we were the type to do something to you, you're a buff man with a crude hammer and some pants. You got nothing of value besides your muscles, so we wouldn't have any reason to hurt you."

"I… suppose that's fair." Duros said, relaxing slightly. "Though I must ask what your purpose is on this island? Especially given that the Marines apparently don't come here, if what your captain said is to be believed."

"Originally just to grab some supplies, but our captain's big mouth got in the way and now we're looking for the lost son of the man who owns the goods store."

"Given that you're pirates, I would have assumed you would have just stolen what you wanted." Duros said accusingly, only to be surprised as Daisy laughed in response.

"Trust me, if this place were a noble town or a marine base, the captain would absolutely have planned us a heist to steal everything. No one on this crew has any love for those kinds, not even Rick, and he actually had good relations with them before he and William started this crew. As it is though, no one really wanted to steal from a small-time place like this, and to be honest we definitely could pay for the stuff we need. But William, ever the scammer and con artist, decided he wanted to try talking his way into a better deal. It just so happened that the store owner's son disappeared 2 days ago, so William talked him into giving us the supplies we need in exchange for finding him."

"I see." Duros said uncertainly.

"You don't, clearly, but you've got time to think about it while you rest and eat. It's pretty clear you haven't eaten in days either."

Duros wanted to respond, to tell Daisy that they didn't need to feed him, but he didn't have the chance to as the door opened to reveal another woman carrying a plate of food that was promptly placed in front of him. The woman then gave him an expectant look, and Duros realized that these people wouldn't take no for an answer.

---

A few hours later, and a few more plates of food provided by the crew's cook Sabrina (who was apparently mute), and Duros found himself sitting on a log on the beach just outside the range of the pirate crew. A small handful of people had filtered out of the woods and to the ship, none with news about the person they were apparently looking for, until finally William himself returned.

"Alright, so the forest team didn't find anything. I'm honestly not surprised, but we had to check just to be sure. Guess all we can do now is wait for Rick and Verona to see if they learned anything in town." William told the crew.

"You're not going to wait long, but we also don't have any time to spare." A new voice called out.

Duros turned to see a pair of people walking down the beach towards the crew. One was a person with long silver hair, dark goggles, a face mask, and a purple trench coat. They also had a large rifle strapped to their back and a scimitar strapped to their hip. The other was a thin looking man in brown business casual and thick glasses, and also had bright orange hair and a small orange goatee.

"That was certainly good timing. Well Rick, what have you learned?" William asked.

"Well, long story short, apparently Samillion had gambled away all his money in an underground gambling den." The orange haired man, who Duros could only assume was Rick, spoke. "You would have fit right in William, and I would have liked you to be there honestly. They were a troublesome bunch."

"What? No! My son would never interact with the likes of the Anglers!" Friggworth insisted. "He's a good boy, I taught him to treasure money and earn it fairly, and made sure he understood not to be wasteful of it."

"Maybe you didn't teach him as well as you thought." The silver haired man, Verona, told the merchant. "Either way, it's the only lead we managed to get, so we're going to have to follow through with it if you want him back."

"I'm sorry, back up, I'm missing some context here. Who are the Anglers? And what to they have to do with Samillion loosing all his money?" William asked.

"Right." Rick cut back in. "Back to what I was saying. The gambling den is owned by the Anglers, a group of pirates that use Gallows Island as a hideout, and are led by a man named Rodney Poledark. Apparently Samillion wracked up enough debt in the den for the Anglers to decide to make him work off his debt. And by work off his debt, they're apparently planning to sell him into slavery. They're going to be leaving the island under the cover of night to take him and their other prisoners somewhere to do just that."

"Oh, that's bad." William said. "Do you have a location for their base?"

"We do." Rick replied.

"Alright, they we have no time to waste." William said before turning to the rest of the crew. "Ragnar, get over here, it's time to beat some people up!"

"Yeah! Let's go! I've been itching for a fight!" Ragnar said as he grabbed his axe and ran over.

"Jimmy, Barry, Benson, Ruby, you all are in charge of watching the outside of this base and making sure none of them escape." William then called out, prompting the three men and one woman he addressed to join them. "Alright then, let us be off."

"William." Duros suddenly called out before they could leave. "Could I ask you something?"

"Uhh, sure? Just make it quick, we're kinda on the clock here." William said.

"I know I'm not part of your crew, but I can't just sit by and wait while you go save this young man. Please, allow me to join you."

"Are you sure?" William asked with a raised eyebrow. "You're still REALLY injured, fighting right now might not be a good idea for you."

"I'm sure, just…" Duros trailed off before turning to Friggworth. "You wouldn't happen to have a suit of armor and a shield I could borrow? I promise to return it afterwords."

"I suppose, but it won't do you much good if you've never worn any before." Friggworth replied.

"Don't worry, I am a well-trained knight. I'm more familiar fighting with armor than without." Duros said.

"Alright then, we'll take a quick pit stop at the store, then it's off to save Samillion." William declared, and the party finally began moving.

---

As it turned out, the Anglers' base was in the cellar of the mayor's mansion. So after some quick shenanigans to dodge the house guard, the group were standing outside the doors watching as William struggled to pick the lock.

"Come on, come on…" William grumbled.

"Loosing your touch there William?" Rick teased.

"Well excuse me. I've been so focused on learning how to be a pirate captain these past 3 weeks that I haven't had time to practice my lock picking." William shot back.

As he said that, the group heard a small snap, and William looked down to see that his lockpick was now broken in the key hole. With a defeated sigh, William stepped away from the door.

"Ragnar, if you would?"

"With pleasure captain."

Ragnar stepped up to the door, leaned back, and shoulder checked it with all his might. The door flew of its hinges, flying to the other side of the room as a scream seemingly erupted from it.

"Oh my God, that door is alive?!" Ragnar exclaimed as everyone began filing into the room.

"Actually Ragnar, that scream came from the man you smashed with the door." William said as he inspected the remains of the door. "He is also no longer alive, which works in our favor given he seems so have keys."

"So, what's the plan now captain?" Verona asked.

"Well, I think the best idea for now is to figure out where everyone is. Me and Rick will go down there pretending to be working for the mayor and try and learn what we can." William said as he walked towards the other door.

"But, what if the mayor doesn't know they're down there?" Duros asked, only for Rick to scoff.

"This is their cellar, which they clearly use. The mayor and his men know they're down here, or they're complete idiots." Rick said as he followed William. "Come on, you three should stick just outside the door for when the fighting starts."

Duros, Verona, and Ragnar quickly followed the William and Rick till everyone was at the door, and they pressed themselves against the walls to avoid being seen. William and Rick took a second to straighten themselves out and prepare themselves before marching confidently through the door. On the other side of the door they saw a small crew of people tying prisoners up and shoving them in small wooden cages, with the exception of one pirate who was playing the violin. On the far end of the room there stood the man who was clearly the captain, a gruff looking fisherman with three hats and a fishing rod, looking over a stack of papers.

"Good evening gentlemen, the two of us were sent by the mayor to check on things down here." William said confidently.

There was a beat of silence as the pirates turned to the pair, before in a flash they all drew their weapons.

"Oi, looks like the jig is up, the mayor found out we're down here!" The captain called out.

"So, he didn't know. In retrospect I'm not surprised given the kind of town this is." Rick said with a sigh as he and William pulled out their weapons and the rest of the crew entered the room.

"Hah, looks like it's time for a fight boys." Ragnar said as he charged into the room with his axe raised, and immediately chaos started.

Immediately shots began firing off both from the enemy pirates and the crew. Duros reacted quickly, jumping in front of his new allies to block the bullets, but winced as he accidentally got shot in the back by Verona because of it.

"Crap, sorry Dos! I didn't expect you to jump in front of me and I couldn't change my aim in time!" Verona shouted before ducking under the blade of someone trying to sneak up on him.

"It's fine, it was my mistake for jumping in so suddenly." Duros replied as he blocked a blade from another one with his shield.

"Well, on the plus side, you're a part of our crew now Duros." William said with a chuckle as he dodged an attack from Rodney and cut down the man with the violin. "You got shot by Verona by accident, which means you're one of us now."

"Wait, what?" Duros asked with a surprised look at William, nearly getting him a hammer to the back if it weren't for Rick shooting the person with his hand cannon.

"It's an inside joke among the crew, now keep focused Duros." Rick said as he turned to take out the guys guarding the cages.

"R-right, sorry." Duros said. He then turned to see someone coming up behind Ragnar and jumped in, smashing his hammer against the man's scull. As the pirate fell to the ground, Duros's instincts screamed at him and he raised his shield just in time to block a surprisingly heavy swing from Ragnar's axe. Duros' knees buckled from the force of the blow, and for a moment he could only see a look of mindless rage in Ragnar's eyes before a look of recognition came into them.

"Whoops, sorry Dos, I didn't see that it was you there. It's hard to see sometimes with my eyepatch, especially during a fight."

"It's fine, it was my fault for getting in the way." Duros replied as he backed away, allowing Ragnar to return to his slaughter. As he left he muttered to himself under his breath. "Stay away from the sweaty bear man when fighting, got it."

By that point though, the fighting was beginning to wrap to a close. It had only been about a minute, but the number of enemy pirates in the cellar had been reduced from 2 dozen to just the captain by himself, while William's crew had just received a few scrapes and bruises. Realizing this, Rodney Poledark ran over to the far side of the room, away from everyone else, and began talking.

"Well, I'll admit you lot are pretty quick at this whole killing thing. I didn't even have time to realize what was going on. I'm going to have to spend a lot of time finding new guys to come work for me."

"You would, if there was a chance you were getting out of this alive." William snarked. "Or do you really think you're going to be able to run away from us?"

"Oh, I don't have to. In fact, if anyone's running away it's you lot, not that I'd let you. You see, I'm not just a fisherman, I'm a 'fisherman man'."

Rodney then twirled his fishing rod in his hand, the string and hook flying in a circle behind it. As he did, countless lines of fishing line began spawning from the area in front of him, from the walls, floor, and celling, and each line held a nasty barbed hook. At the same time, countless lines also came over the door they came in from, going tight and completely sealing it off.

"Holy shit!" William exclaimed in fear at the sight, most of his crewmate's eyes widening as they took in the sight of all the fishing line and hooks moving around unnaturally in front of them.

"That's a good response. Pretty crazy eh? I ate the 'fishing fishing' devil fruit, so now I am really a master of my craft. Now, you all got two options. You ca-"

"GRAHHHHHHH!"

Ragnar interrupted Rodney with a roar and charged straight for him, ignoring the fishing line in front of him.

"Ragnar wait!" William cried out, seeing what was going to happen before it did, but it was too late. The fishing hooks tore into Ragnar's bare skin, slowing him down and cutting ribbons of red through him until he was dragged to his knees about 3 steps from being in range of Rodney.

"Well, he got further than I expected, bit doesn't matter in the end. Now you all know what's going to happen if yo-"

*BANG*

Verona fired a shot from his rifle at Rodney, only for the bullet to be caught by one of the hooks long before it reached him.

"Yeah, that ain't going to work either. Now, I was going to offer you all a spot on my crew, but at this point I'm a little angry at all of you, so I'm just going to kill you all instead." Rodney said, only for another person to roar in response.

"AHHHHHHH!" Duros screamed as he also charged into the field of hooks. Unlike Ragnar however, the hooks merely bounced off his metal armor, allowing him to make it all the way to Ragnar and grab him. He then dragged the barbarian back to where William and the rest of the crew were. Placing the man in front of his captain, Duros then turned and raised his shield to block an assault of hooks, and Verona quickly took cover behind him and began shooting at Rodney.

"Shit, he looks really bad." William said in a panicked voice as he began patching up Ragnar's wounds. "Come on Ragnar, stay with me buddy."

"Focus William!" Duros said over his shoulder. "You're the captain, aren't you?! Now is not the time for you to be panicking, now is the time for you to be leading! Take charge and take out this enemy threatening your crew!"

William turned to Duros to respond, his face still twisted in worry, only for Rick to place a hand on his shoulder.

"He's right William." Rick said, giving William a serious look. "I can take care of Ragnar right now, you need to take care of this guy."

Looking right back at Rick, William took a deep breath, calming himself down before nodding.

"Right, you're right, deal with enemy now, worry about ally later." William said before turning to Duros. "You think you can defend your face with just your arms?"

"I think so, do you need my shield?"

"Yeah, I think I've got a plan."

"It wont work you know, whatever it is." Rodney called out from where he was. "I was a bit surprised by the armor, but I do know how to deal with it. Your only options are to surrender and let me have my fun, or resist and make this more annoying than it has to be."

The crew didn't listen to him, instead continuing to resist. As Verona kept up his covering fire, Duros handed William his shield. William grabbed it and then jumped onto Duros' back, making himself as small as he could and covering as much of himself as possible with the shield.

"Alright Duros, now CHARGE!"

"AHHHHHHHHH!"

With another roar, Duros charged through the field of hooks and wire. This time the hooks went at him with more intentionality, hooking into the edges of the metal plates to try and grab him and stop him, but William was able to use his sword to cut through some of the line, and Duros was able to simply power through some others. Soon Duros was able to get in range of Rodney and take a swing at him, but Rodney easily stepped back out of range of the swing.

"I told you it wouldn't work." Rodney said as his fishing line caught Duros's arm, the wire finally overwhelming him and holding him in place. The hooks then managed to get around the edges of the shield William was holding and pulled it away. Rodney then saw William's sword quickly coming up from behind Duros's shoulder.

"I don't think so." Rodney said as he attacked the holder of the sword, only for his hooks to hit nothing but air. In a split second, Rodney realized that the sword was simply flying through the air, it's owner not holding on to it, and looked down just in time to see William coming from below with an uppercut aimed straight between his legs.

*CRACK*

"Ohhhh, low blow captain. Good blow, but low blow." Verona said with a wince.

"Well, whatever works, and that certainly works." Rick said with a wince of his own.

Over with Rodney, the fisherman's face was twisted in a silent scream of pain, all of his fishing line going limp as he slowly began to double over. William then straightened up from where he was, caught his tossed sword, and cleanly put the man out of his misery by cutting off his head.

"And that's that." William said with a sigh. "These Anglers are no more."

"Did you really have to kill him William?" Duros asked as the hooks around him began to fade, allowing him to move again. "your punch had him certainly beat, you could have just knocked him out."

"True, but I just wanted to make sure he wasn't going to get back up. Seriously, my second time meeting a devil fruit user has been WAY more terrifying than my first."

"Wait, you've met another devil fruit user before?" Rick asked as he finished bandaging Ragnar. "Because I've been around the South Blue a lot more than you have, and this is my first time meeting one."

"What do you mean? You've met another devil fruit user before, we know the same one." William replied confused.

"I am very confident we don't." Rick replied dryly.

"What? Come on, it's been less than two weeks since we left the island. Don't tell me you've already forgotten about Chief Yokan?" William said.

…

"CHIEF YOKAN HAD A DEVIL FRUIT!?" Rick exclaimed.

"Yeah, she has since she moved to Gem Island. Did you never notice the cat ears before?"

"I thought she had those because she was part mink!" Rick shot back before sighing. "Still, it figures you would know that she has a devil fruit given your relationship."

"What? What's that supposed to mean?" William asked, and Rick raised an eyebrow at him.

"Seriously, you don't have to deny it anymore now that we're gone. I'm honestly surprised we haven't gone back yet though."

"Wait, are you talking about all those rumors that me and her are secretly a thing?" William asked, earning him a nod from Rick which caused him to let out a frustrated sigh. "Oh my god, we're not a thing! We never have been! She's the police chief, and I'm a very slippery criminal who's managed to escape custody a few times. We have a strong sense of professional respect for each other and we're able to talk like civilized people when she isn't trying to hunt me down, that's it. Seriously, I'm not even sure she likes guys at all."

"Hey uh, not that I'm not interested in your past captain, but shouldn't we free the prisoners now that the fighting's over?" Verona interjected.

"Ah, right." William said as he turned to the people still in the cages. "First things first, which one of you is Samillion?"

"I-I am." A large man in the biggest cage said nervously.

"Good. Everyone, thank Samillion for having an awesome dad that worries about him, because if it weren't for him, we wouldn't have found you."

Awkwardly, most of the people in cages thanked Samilion and the crew for saving them, except for two.

"Fuck you Samillion, this was our one chance to get off this island!"

"Yeah, fuck you!"

"You'd rather be slaves than stay on this island?" Rick asked the two. "You do know what slaves are right?"

"Yeah, we do, but any sane person would instantly choose slavery over spending more than a day on this island!"

"Yeah, this place sucks!"

"Well, if you really hate this place that much, I think I have room on my crew?" William offered with a questioning look at Rick, who gave him a nod.

"Deal!"

"Yeah, deal!"

"Well alright then."

---

From that point, the crew worked their way through the cages freeing everyone and sending them on their way. Rick explained to their two surprise new crewmates what their jobs would be, and Verona stuck right beside Samillion to make sure nothing happened to him. After about 20 minutes the group had made their way out of the building, easily bypassing the mayor's guard again even with their large group, and William and Rick were talking with their lookouts when Duros approached them.

"Excuse me William, can I talk to you alone for a moment?"

"Oh, sure Duros. Rick you can handle this right?" William said, receiving a nod in response. "Alright then, let's go find ourselves some privacy."

The pair then walked off, soon finding themselves at the edge of the dock. They found an out of the way corner where no one was to talk, a spot by the water with a handful of rocks overlooking the sea, and Duros promptly started removing his armor.

"Ok, woah, stop. I don't know what you're doing right now, but I'm pretty sure I'm not interested." William quickly said, only for Duros to give him a confused look.

"I'm not sure what you're thinking, but it's probably not it. I was just hoping you would be able to return this armor to the shop owner for me." Duros said as he handed William the parts he'd removed.

"I guess." William replied as he took the armor. "But why cant you just give them to him yourself? You are coming back with us right? All Verona jokes aside, I was actually planning on offering you a spot on the crew later."

"I… Thank you William, for the offer, but I can't join your crew, it wouldn't be right, and you wouldn't want me on the crew anyways." Duros said sadly as he continued removing his gear.

"Is this because of the whole, you being chased by the Marines thing, because let me remind you that I am a pirate captain so that would happen regardless."

"No it's… something else." Duros said cryptically, now refusing to look William in the eye.

"Well, I'm not sure what that something else is, but I'm pretty sure we can deal with it." William said cheerfully. "I mean, you'd be a great addition to my crew. You were a really big help in that fight back there, I'm pretty sure we wouldn't have gotten out of that without you. As for what else you could do, I'm sure we can think of somethi-"

"I AM NOT A PIRATE WILLIAM!" Duros shouted. "I am a knight, someone who protects the innocent, just like the Marines! Or at least, I thought that they did, until 5 days ago."

Duros then stopped removing his armor, his torso bare with the exception of his bandages while his legs remained armored, and sat down on the rocks, gazing blankly out into the sea.

"And, I'm a failure at being a knight as well. I failed my people, I failed my prince, I failed my duty. I… am a failure, a knight without honor, a worthless soldier who wasn't even able to die doing what he swore to do. My prince was captured, my fellow knights killed, and I was left with nothing to do but run away in disgrace. I didn't bandage my wounds not because I couldn't, but because I didn't deserve to have them bandaged. So now, I'm nothing but a worthless disgrace of a knight without a kingdom to call home."

There was a moment of silence between the two, Duros' words feeling as though they were echoing in the open air. A small tear began to drip from Duros's eye as he continued staring out into the sea, and he almost forgot William was even there, but William soon reminded him of his presence. William kneeled down beside Duros, putting a hand on his shoulder which prompted Duros to finally look at him again.

"Duros, do you know what the two requirements for being a pirate are?" William asked.

"A pirate flag and a complete disregard for human life?" Duros half sarcastically guessed.

"Nope. The only two things a person need to be to get the label of pirate, is to be someone who actively travels between islands, and be someone who the World Government doesn't like. That's it. Clearly you're on the bad side of the law now after everything you've been through, and unless you're planning to stick around here now, which I'm pretty sure your not, you fulfill the first requirement too. In that case, you're kind of a pirate already huh." William said with a wry smile.

"I… I suppose that makes sense. Heh, I guess I really am a pirate then, but that doesn't-"

Duros was interrupted in what he was about to say by William sitting down properly beside him, roughly nudging him as he did so. William then looked out into the sea himself as he pulled out one of his lock picks to twirl in his fingers.

"You know, I've never really understood the whole honor thing. I mean, I get how important it is to live life by a code, even I have one I follow. Just like how our ability to adapt and invent is what separates sentients like humans and fishmen from the animals, having a code is what separates civilized people from the random thugs and bandits you see running around. Still, the idea that you'd die before you broke your code has never sat well with me, you know? I mean, what's the point of dying for something like that?"

"It's my duty, that's why. As a knight, and as a soldier, it is my duty to uphold my honor and protect the innocent people so that my kingdom may thrive." Duros replied thoughtlessly, only for William to turn back to him.

"Alright, then let me ask you a question. What if there was a situation where you had to choose between maintaining your honor, and saving some innocent people. What would you do?" William asked.

"That… I…"

"Let me answer that for you Duros." William said before Duros could properly respond. "You would throw away your honor without hesitation, and go protect those people. Why do I know that? Because that's what you just did. You threw away your honor and worked with criminals to take down some other criminals that were going to sell people into slavery."

"I… I suppose you're right." Duros replied.

"I am right, but you know what, that doesn't have to be a choice you need to make."

William then stood up suddenly and began looking down towards Duros.

"One of the big joys about being a pirate, and to be honest being a criminal in general, is that YOU make your own rules. You get to be free from whatever rules the world government or the island that you're on have. You could change your code of honor so that you can work with criminals to save people, you can decide who your people are, and you can be the only one that judges whether you're still honorable or not. You're free to traverse the seas and do whatever you want, and if what you want is to protect people, then you can do that." William said with a wide smile.

Duros looked up at William, seeing the man's shockingly honest eyes and smile, and to Duros's own surprise, he found himself considering what William was saying. For the past few days, he'd just been coasting along, belittling himself for his failure, and when William started talking he'd expected the pirate to try and convince him that it was ok for him to fail or something, but he didn't. instead, William seemed to more care about changing his view on things, getting him to look at his current situation from another perspective. As painful as the fact that he was no longer a true knight was, he was now in a position to be truly free, fight only the battles he wanted to. He may have lost quite a bit, but he was now in a position where he had everything to gain.

"This is quite the strange recruitment pitch William, you seem to be more interested in me becoming a pirate rather than becoming one of YOUR pirates." Duros said carefully, but William simply responded with a casual shrug.

"So? Yeah I want you on my crew, but I'd rather you actually WANT to be a pirate or something similar than just be someone who just follow me. Heck, after what happened earlier, I would say you're probably more fit to be a captain than me."

"I would disagree with that evaluation, but I appreciate the compliment." Duros said thoughtfully.

Duros then took another moment to think about William's words before once again turning to him.

"Tell me William, what kind of pirate crew do you want your crew to be?"

"I dunno." William said with a shrug. "I haven't thought that far ahead yet, I just decided I wanted to be part of a crew."

"Really?" Duros asked curiously. "Then, why did you become a pirate in the first place."

"Needed a career change." William replied.

Duros was silent for a moment, waiting for William to continue, but after a solid minute of waiting it was clear that that there wasn't anything more. Realizing this, Duros couldn't help but laugh. That's all there was to it then? Just a simple whim and he could become a pirate? Seemed fitting honestly, and at this point Duros knew he didn't really have any better options, but suddenly it seemed as though it was a good one regardless.

"Well, perhaps I can help this new pirate crew to become more like the noble knights of my home kingdom, helping those in need. That is, if you'd have me aboard, captain." Duros said.

William responded with a wide smile and offered a hand to Duros. Duros took the offered hand, allowing William to pull him up in more ways than the captain may have realized, and stood proud.

"It would be my 'honor' Duros." William said with a cheeky smile. "Now, let's see about actually buying you that armor."

---

Duros smiled fondly at his armor as Coby digested everything he'd said. It wasn't the same armor that he'd used on Gallows Island, that cheap set had been very quickly replaced, but the fact that he was wearing armor like this at all was proof that he was still a knight in a way.

"William is not be the strongest member of our crew, nor the most organized or moral, and he is far from the bravest. But, for whatever reason, he is our captain, and I don't think any member of the crew would have it any other way. I've only been a member of the crew for a little over two weeks, and yet I cant imagine doing anything else with my life at this point." Duros said with a smile.

"That's… wow, that's a lot." Coby said, still slowly processing everything.

"Indeed it is, but I feel as though you were looking for the answer to another question. Tell me, what did you really want to ask me?" Duros said, and Coby let out a soft sigh.

"Well, when me and William were first told how you defended Rika from Helmeppo, it made me question whether the marines were good people. When I talked to William about that, he said to wait to talk to you because he didn't know how to answer me. It's been my dream for most of my life to become a Marine, to become one of the people that fight for justice, but when I learned about what happened it shook me. So I guess, what I really wanted to ask was, are the Marines really justice? Should I really join them?"

Coby's face was full of doubt, very clearly troubled, and Duros easily sympathized. Putting an armored hand on Coby's shoulder, Duros looked the young man straight in the eye.

"Coby, that is something that I can not answer for you, not in the least because I don't truly know how the Marines are. But, if there's one thing I've learned from William, it's that you can always change your path. If you want my advice, try becoming a Marine. If you've put in the work, done what you can, and you find that it truly isn't for you, then you can just quit and find something else. William offered to help Cyril get out of the Marines if he truly needed the help to leave, and I give you the same offer in his place. If you find that it truly isn't for you, but you can't leave under your own power, then this crew will do what it can to help you leave, and then you can find your own path again, even if it still isn't with us."

"I guess that makes sense. I'll do that, I'll try to become a Marine, but I'll also remember to still think for myself." Coby said with a nod. "Thank you Duros, and could you thank William for helping me as well? I'd tell him myself, but I'm pretty sure I'd get in trouble if I talked to you two anymore seeing as you're both still pirates."

"Of course, I'll be sure to pass along your message. You go back to the base and begin to fulfil your dream." Duros said as he stood up. "Farwell Coby, may we meet again."

---

"I take it your talk went well?" William asked Duros as the knight returned to the boat.

"It did. I helped him with what he was dealing with, and he wanted me to thank you for what you did for him. I also offered him the same deal we gave Cyril, is that ok captain?" Duros replied.

"It's cool, now come on, we need to get going." William said as he finished up prepping the boat.

"Very well captain." Duros said as he climbed aboard, and the pair launched off into the sea.

As the pair slowly rowed further and further into the water, William noticed a familiar figure coming to the edge of the docks, followed closely by a small army of Marines.

"Well, would you look at that, Marines saluting pirates." William said with a chuckle, prompting Duros turn and look at them.

"Fascinating, I suppose there is some honor in the marines after all."

Over on the shore, Coby stood proudly, refusing to feel fear or regret for saluting William and Duros as they left, even as the Marines came up behind him. He then felt proud as they all began saluting the pair along with him, and they all stayed there until the two pirates were nothing more than a speck in the distance, at which point the new commander turned to him.

"Young man, what exactly is your relationship with those two?" He asked.

"They… they are my saviors sir. I may have only met the captain three days ago, but he saved me from the Alvida pirates and helped me get here, and Duros encouraged me to become a marine after seeing the kind of person Morgan is made me reconsider."

"I see." The commander said. "Still, they are both pirates, so you do realize that you're going to have to fight them eventually, and you wont be allowed to hold back when you do."

"I understand sir, and I swear to do my best!" Coby said confidently.

"Good man." The commander said before turning to the rest of his crew. "ALRIGHT MEN, EVEN THOUGH THOSE TWO TOOK DOWN OUR CORRUPT COMMANDING OFFICER, THEY ARE STILL PIRATES, AND WE JUST SALUTED THEM. FOR THIS BREACH OF PROTOCOL, NO ONE IS ALLOWED TO EAT FOR THE NEXT TWO DAYS!"

"YES SIR!"

---

"Well then captain, where to now?" Duros asked as he continued to row their boat.

"We're headed off to an archipelago called the Organ Islands." William answered. "We have no idea where to actually look for the rest of the crew, but we're going to need a better ship than just a row boat if we're going to look for them, so Ririka suggested we go there to get one seeing as it's fairly close by. If we're lucky, we'll even be able to find hints about where some of them are there."

"Alright captain, then I shall row with all my might so that we may get there as fast as possible." Duros replied.

And with that, the two strangers to the East Blue began their adventure properly. There was no telling where their path may take them, but there was no doubt that it would be a wild one.

---

Knowing what to uphold and hold dear can be just as important as knowing what to let go.

---

And that's a wrap, the first chapter of what promices to be a pretty long story. I cant actually say how far I'll get with this, but I'll be trying to go the distance with it. Obviously given that it's built around a retelling of the One Piece manga itself, I cant really finish the story before that's done, but if I'm being realistic I might not make it that far anyways. as you can probably tell by now, this thing will be a bit more 'adult' than the real story, and by that I mean I wont have to rely on subtext and people catching implications as much as the original series, so if a character gets sexually asulted or something like that I can outright say it. My first example of course being Helmeppo and his dad, because lets be real, those two look the same age in their first appearances, and with the way Helmeppo talks it's not that hard to make the assumption when you haven't seen the two interact. Regardless, I hope you've enjoyed it for what it's worth, and now I want to do a fun little end section more just for myself. Though, I will warn that there will be spoilers for the DnD series in this.

I used to play League of Legends back a few years back, and while I don't play it anymore, the game still intrests me, both in terms of gameplay and lore. So, mostly on a whim, I decided to make champion kits for the Devil's Luck crew, and now I'll be sharing them at the end of each chapter, one per chapter. Let's start with Duros. Note, these are not at all intended to be balanced, they are just intended to represent the characters.

---

Duros: Tank support, mele auto attack.

Passive: Za Wulfo: once every 6 seconds, Za Wulfo comes out and automatically blocks the next source of damage going to a nearby ally. Target's the lowest percentage health ally, does not self target.

Q: Skillful Sword: choose 1 of 4 affects. Knockback, taunt for 1 second, stun for 1 second, or root for 2 seconds. Your next auto attack will inflict the affect you chose.

W: Benevolence: temporarily gain 50% life steal on auto attacks.

E: Hand Axe: Thin straight line skill shot. Has 3 charges and can deal auto attack affects.

R: Triple Smile: Duros, Za Wulfo, and Friend all give their best charming smile affecting a large cone in front of them. All enemies caught within are charmed, and all allies caught within gain a shield based on Duros' armor.